Week 11: Viral Video Popularity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOw44VFNk8Y#t=266

The above link leads to a YouTube video entitled, "The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made #airnzhobbit ". Putting a new twist on the ever-dreaded flight safety instructions given at the beginning of any plane trip, this video turns the process into something travelers can actually enjoy. In fact, the video was so popular that its reach extended the airplanes in which it was being shown and became an Internet sensation, having received 12,910,840 views since it was posted on October 22.

As the "official airline of Middle-earth," marketing persons at Air New Zealand took it upon themselves to promote the final installment of The Hobbit Trilogy - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in a way somewhat different from traditional movie trailers. For Hobbit fans both travelling with the airline and located elsewhere, the video was a hit. By taking advantage of their location, the airline has managed to make a mundane process seem not only entertaining, but also something actually worth sharing online with one's friends and followers - a task which, with so much to look at on the Internet, is becoming increasingly difficult.

I think this video essentially became popular due to the potential expanse of its reach and appeal to a large demographic; most anyone who is a fan of the book or movie series is sure to enjoy the way everyday flight attendants are turned into residents of Middle-earth and take the viewer on a trip not only to where the plane is headed, but seemingly into Middle-earth itself. However, the airline then takes its advertisement cast one step further by also including celebrities in addition to its own employees. It is well-known that celebrities are often an excellent marketing strategy when it comes to making a product appeal to viewers; in this particular video, the Air New Zealand went so far as to include celebrities from the movie series in order to make it all the more appealing. Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood, and Sylvester McCoy all make special cameo appearances in the video. As some of the individuals who are most often associated with the movies, their use in the video was a sure way to entertain fans of the series. Richard Taylor and Dean O'Gorman also make appearances, further including cast and crew into the creation of a simple safety video.

"The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made" is definitely a fitting title for a video with more than 12 million views. There probably haven't been many occasions where a flight safety video has been viewed - at least, not voluntarily - by such a large number of individuals. For Air New Zealand to have come up with a way to take the dreaded process of instructing passengers how to fasten a seat belt and make it one that both flight attendant and passenger can enjoy shows excellent marketing skills. Being able to then take that video and make it a viral hit shows cleverness and good use of video, advertising, and social media. It is for these reasons I think the video became popular.

Apparently, this video is not the first of its kind done by Air New Zealand. In 2012, they posted their first hobbit-themed safety video. This video matches the one posted this year in cleverness and has almost as many viewers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBlRbrB_Gnc&src_vid=qOw44VFNk8Y&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_541399643

Week 10: Super Bowl Advertising

This year's Super Bowl is bound to have more social media advertising than years prior. With Vine and Instagram Video having become exceptionally more popular in the last few months, these two apps are exceptionally likely to be used for advertising both during the Super Bowl and in the months leading up to it. Another recent addition to the social media advertising is the "buy" buttons that are rumored to be coming to Twitter and Facebook, a feature which will be very useful come Super Bowl time. With the convenience of having products available for purchase through popular social media sites, advertising and potential sales can be taken to a whole new level.
In previous years, Super Bowl advertising was an opportunity for companies to broadcast themselves with the potential of reaching millions of viewers via television. Now, they can do that and more. The freedom of social media allows a company to use a TV commercial to advertise their products/services and then provide a social media plug (hashtag or Facebook domain) that consumers can then resort to for further updates. Traditional Super Bowl advertising was all about connecting with consumers on a personal level through commercials; however, last year's game and its advertising proved that this personal connection is possible even with Vine and Instagram Video, which are much shorter than the standard commercial ad.
This year, advertising will have to be taken a step further than the standard Facebook like and Twitter favorite/follow. I think that, to keep consumers' attention, more companies will have to actively involve viewers in ad campaigns similar to the Oreo Snack Hacks and Qdoba Queso Showdown. By allowing consumers to contribute to a product, said consumers are much more likely to be interested in the product itself, which could then result in better profits for companies. Most people who watch the Super Bowl do so for the commercials; the advertisements are renowned for being entertaining, and allow companies the opportunity to reach a much larger group of people than normal. Another company that took advantage of consumer engagement is Lays potato chips; their "Do Us a Flavor" campaign was wildly successful after giving buyers the opportunity to actually create a flavor of chip and become partially famous and win money because of it. Though these ad campaigns were not necessarily Super Bowl advertisements, they were successful at engaging buyers and increasing sales. Therefore, I think that the ads during the biggest football game of the year this year will use Vine and Instagram Video to their advantage, make use of stop-motion video, and use the resulting increase in sales and social media traffic to gauge how much of an impact their advertisements had on the public.

As crazy as it seems, with the game being so far away, digital marketing is already gearing up for the big day: http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/forget-black-friday-digital-marketers-have-already-moved-on-to-superbowl-xlix-46269/

Week 09 Blog: Social Media Campaigns

As mentioned in the article "The 30 Most Brilliant Social Media Campaigns of 2014 (So Far)" by Heike Young, advertising via social media has become increasingly important. In said article, number 28 on the list was the "Meet & Seat" campaign; this campaign is exceptionally useful in the way of social media advertising. It allows users who are booking flights to see where other users will be sitting and therefore allow them to seat themselves accordingly. If there is someone on board a flight which they want to book, the user can choose a seat next to the individual they desire.
By using LinkedIn and Facebook profiles, Meet & Seat users are able to view who will be on a certain flight before booking the flight itself. Offered by KLM Airlines, an airline in Amsterdam, Meet & Seat allows for  travelers to pick who they sit next to based on social media profiles. Given a well-kept LinkedIn/Facebook/Google+ profile, an individual can be chosen by someone who is booking the flight. Seeing as random plane flight seatings are usually an undesirable occurrence which require sitting next to strangers for an extended period of time, the ability to choose who one sits next to is as genius as it is convenient; if I were to purchase a ticket for a flight, I would much rather choose whom I sit next to as opposed to being seated next to a random individual. To further that decision, the potential for being seated next to a business-focused individual with similar mindsets and personal goals is all the more appealing.
I think this social media campaign will be successful because it is appealing to individuals both from a comfort and business perspective. Having the freedom to request whom one sits next to on a flight is appealing enough, but being combined with the opportunity to sit next to a business partner is all the more appealing. Therefore, as LinkedIn increases in popularity, I think this Meet & Seat campaign will become more popular as well. What they should do, if I were to make a suggestion, would be to expand their reach to the USA and other nations; this concept has the potential for global appeal.
The following article is somewhat similar in that in suggests ways for social media campaigns to target certain audiences:
http://unbounce.com/social-media/use-psychology-to-build-social-media-campaigns-that-resonate/